Vietnamese shares picked up on Thursday morning, propped up by a string of positive news for the market and domestic economy.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.06 per cent to close at 994.93 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rose 0.35 per cent to end at 103.38 points.

More than 88.5 million shares were traded on the two bourses, worth VND1.9 trillion (US$80 million).

Seafood stocks gained after the US Department of Commerce (DOC) exempted anti-dumping tariffs for shrimp exporters of Việt Nam in the 13th period of review (POR 13). Gainers included Bentre Aquaproduct Import And Export JSC (ABT), Sao Ta Foods Joint Stock Company (FMC), I.D.I International Development & Investment Corporation (IDI) and Minh Phu Seafood Corporation (MPC).

Oil and gas stocks also witnessed growth among large-caps, PVD surged 3.4 per cent to VND18,100 per share. Brent futures price rose 27 cents to $60.3 a barrel. WTI oil price dropped 45 cents to 55.68 USD per barrel.

Bankers also performed with gainers including Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Military Bank (MBB), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB) and Vietcombank (VCB). ACB increased by 1.8 per cent to VND22,700 per share. MBB increased 1.1 per cent to VND22,750 share.

On the other side, the selling pressure still hit some pillars such as PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Vicostone JSC (VCS), the Việt Nam Construction and Import-Export Corp (VCG) and Mobile World Group (MWG).

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS